India poised to become $313 bn education and skills market by 2030: Report

The pandemic contributed to an unprecedented jump in online education

With the pandemic contributing to an unprecedented jump in online education and job upskilling in the country, India will soon become a USD 313 billion online education market, according to a new report.

The report, titled "Investing for Impact: Education, Skills and EdTech", talks about 10 disruptive investment ideas which can bring about a transformational change in the way Indians receive their education as well as post-education skilling and training facilitated and catalysed by new-age educational and training technologies.

It points to a way forward for developing and building human capital in keeping with the needs of the 21st century education and job market.

"Even as the pandemic has precipitated an unprecedented jump in online education and job upskilling uptake in the country, India is soon to become a USD 313 billion online education market," said the report released by Aspire Circle, a not-for-profit forum promoting social leadership in India through fellowships and research.

The 10 ideas which have been identified in the report are technology-enabled K-12 education, online test preparation platforms-led inclusion and affordability, supplemental and extra-curricular education, teacher training and development, affordable education loan platforms, gig economy and unbundled microtasking, affordable student housing, innovative finance in education and skilling, micro and alternative credentials for employability skills, and social and emotional learning.

"During COVID-19, almost 150 million girls were affected directly by school closures, with almost 90 million girls across rural India without any significant learning opportunity," said Safeena Husain, founder of 'Educate Girls'.

"If technology-driven access to quality learning is provided to these girls backed by adequate investments in affordable education loan platforms, student housing, extracurricular and supplemental education, and social and emotional learning as brought out in this report, it will go a long way in unlocking the impact that is much needed at this point," she added.

This was the second in a series of reports by Aspire Circle as a part of the larger programme of generating "100 Impact Ideas for India's Inclusive Growth".

"The top 10 ideas in 21st century education and skills lie at the intersection of technology and impact. India's education and skills market will grow double this decade, from USD 180 billion in 2020 to USD 313 billion in 2030, while creating five million incremental jobs and impacting 429 million learners. We hope investors, entrepreneurs and policy-makers will engage with our research-based recommendations to help India truly realise its demographic dividend," said Amit Bhatia, founder of Aspire Circle.